


A Tangible Burn

by buzzbuzz34



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Burns, F/F, Humanity, Kissing, The Magnus Archives Femslash Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:07:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22086901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buzzbuzz34/pseuds/buzzbuzz34
Summary: Gertrude expects to be burned when Agnes takes her hand.  But there is something greater than the Web that binds them together, and in each other's company they are able to be human, if only for a little while.
Relationships: Agnes Montague/Gertrude Robinson
Comments: 2
Kudos: 21
Collections: The Magnus Archives Femslash Week 2019.5





	A Tangible Burn

**Author's Note:**

> Written for tma femslash week over on tumblr! The prompt I chose for today was Humanity.

When Gertrude extended her hand to Agnes, she fully expected to be burned. The heat radiating off of her was palpable even just standing so close to her, but Gertrude didn’t withdraw. She was willing to risk the burn. For Agnes.

“Gertrude…”

Trembling with trepidation, Agnes slowly lifted her hand, carefully placing it in Gertrude’s, waiting for her to pull away or shriek in pain. 

“I’m not… burning you?” Agnes pondered aloud. She looked longingly at their intertwined hands, savoring human contact for possibly the first time. 

Agnes’ skin was hot, certainly, and Gertrude would likely wind up with some small burns from holding onto her, but they could be healed. And she wouldn’t pull away from Agnes anyway. They were bound together by something other than the Web which drew Gertrude into the fire that blazed in Agnes’ eyes, a fire that belonged only to her, that the Desolation could only dream of harnessing.

After the initial fear faded, Agnes held tighter to Gertrude’s hand, and shifted to wind their fingers together. For a brief moment, she looked away from the connection, and then she lurched forward, using her free hand to tug Gertrude in for a kiss. 

Gertrude didn’t know what to expect. The fires of the Desolation to finally come crashing down on her? The taste of spider webs? 

Instead, she felt the lips of a woman she’d longed to kiss for years, to hold and embrace, only to be scared off by a tangible kind of burn. Her fingers laced through Agnes’ long hair and she kissed her back, no longer sure if the heat that coursed through her body was from the Lightless Flame or something else entirely. 

She shuddered when Agnes pulled away, eager to kiss her again and never let go. 

Instead, Agnes whispered, her lips brushing against Gertrude’s as she did so, “You make me feel human, Gertrude.” 

“Who’s to say that you aren’t?”

Agnes laughed and the melody danced in Gertrude’s brain.

“We both know I’m not. But… I’ve never been able to touch anyone without hurting them. I was so afraid of hurting _you_. I still am, just… in a different way now.” She traced the curve of Gertrude’s face with delicate fingertips, drinking her in with her eyes. “Being with you… it’s the most normal and the most incredible thing.”

She kissed Gertrude again, firm and slow, then pressed their foreheads together. 

“Please don’t let me go.”

“I won’t.”

“Promise?”

“Even if I wanted to, I’m fairly certain the Web wouldn’t allow it,” Gertrude admitted.

“I don’t care about the Web. I care about you. Us. This.” Agnes put a hand over Gertrude’s heart, and, for a moment, Gertrude was willing to promise anything to her.

“We’re both a part of something bigger than ourselves,” she said softly, unable to met Agnes’ gaze. “I can’t promise that. But… for now, it doesn’t matter. For now, we have each other. And we can find peace in these moments, when we don’t belong to Fears, when we don’t have any other responsibilities. And we can both be human, at least for a while.”

Agnes nodded as a tear rolled down her cheek and instantly evaporated in a hiss of steam. “You’re right. Just to have you… that’ll be enough for me.”

Their lips met again, and their bodies pressed tightly together. For those few moments, and the several that came after them, there was nothing else. The Desolation and the Eye and the Web could all wait as Agnes’ fire burned brighter than ever before in the ashes of humanity she glimpsed with Gertrude.


End file.
